


with the help of your waters

by glitterseas



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 20:52:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15127598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitterseas/pseuds/glitterseas
Summary: She waits. She used to feel like she could fly, watching the waves crash and roar, but now there's a void where exhilaration used to soar in her body.





	with the help of your waters

**Author's Note:**

> written for the yahtzee challenge @ getyourwordsout.
> 
> title from _river_ by ibeyi.

Naia decides she hates walking in the forest. She's been stuck on the island for over a week now and the chances that she will be able to get on a ship, any ship, are close to non-existent. She can't remember the last time she spent so much time on land. It just feels wrong. The earth is too soft and steady under her feet as she makes her way through the woods to the beach. She keeps expecting it to tilt to left or right the way the ship would sway with the waves, but it remains unmoved and Naia is caught off guard, putting her foot clumsily to the side.

She could have taken the more frequented path, but she doesn't trust her new companions not to follow her and ask silly questions, and, either way, she needs a break for them. She keeps convincing herself to think of them as her new crew, but the truth is they're strangers. Strangers who might not understand the way she is, what she needs to do.

She feels uneasy as the sound of waves crashing against the shore grows louder and she can't see anything but the trees. The horizon used to be clear for her and all she would see for miles was dark blue water. Now it seems she's lucky if she can see the sky without walls or trees limiting her view.

Finally, she reaches the edge of the forest and pauses, breathing in the sea breeze. She inhales deep, exhales, feels numb. Her heart stops for a moment, then starts racing, disappointment dictating its rhythm.

She takes off her shoes and slowly walks up to where the water washes over the sand. Then she pulls up her sleeves and trousers legs and walks into the water until it reaches her knees, soaking her rolled up trouser legs. She waits. She used to feel like she could fly, watching the waves crash and roar, but now there's a void where exhilaration used to soar in her body.

Out of a pocket she fishes out a jewel, shiny and sea green, and flings it as far as she can, watches it disappear with a soft _plop_. Then she closes her eyes, bows and puts her hands in the water, not giving a damn that now her sleeves and the bottom part of her shirt are wet. She waits, listens.

The emptiness where a gentle tugging at her thoughts used to be is palpable. She pushes down the angry tears threatening to spill and thinks furiously, _don't abandon me now, don't abandon me, not when you saved me in the first place and sent me here, of all places. No, don't abandon me_.

She's not sure what she expects, but the silence pierces right through her. Wherever she is, her goddess won't reach out to her. She pulled Naia from the bottom of the sea, then left her here like worthless loot. Naia's hands curl into fists in the water as if she could wrestle the deity into answering her. But she's not stupid, she knows it never works like this.

She straightens her back, lets the water drip from her hands down on her clothes. She doesn't know how long she stares at the horizon, the line between the sky and the sea blurring. The sign doesn't come and, finally, Naia walks out of the water, then back to the forest, each move of her body screaming defeat, but with every step she thinks, _I'll do better, I'll show you, I can do better._ She thinks she hears thunder in the distance, but when she stops in her tracks, the world is silent.

 


End file.
